Tsunami warning canceled by the U.S. Tsunami Center

Several hours after issuing a Tsunami warning that should have been associated with a 7.3 earthquake in Venezuela, the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Center says that it has recalled that warning.

In an email exchange with the agency last night, it said “The initial warning was based upon certain guided scientific principles as it relates to earthquakes in coastal zones. ……. But after we had perused a more accurate collection of seismic data that was presented to us, and have taken several other geological factors into account, we have come to a conclusion that the Tsunami warning should be canceled. …… We had already issued that cancellation sometime now, and we can only now assume that the information was probably not properly propagated down to every media outfit, as may be the case with yours. ……. Apart from the press, we had long conveyed this information to the relevant authorities in the countries where we had originally thought that a tsunami warning would have been relevant”.

Further referring to the data that they have, the Tsunami Center reiterated that there is no need for persons to panic at this time. However, they agree that it is always wise to remain vigilant when residing on a coastal zone that was affected by an earthquake, since it is not always possible for the Center to detect and provide warnings for every Tsunami that may surface.

Tsunamis are not necessarily so predictable and can often occur without any prior warnings, which has been the case many times before.